Welsh Journals

Welsh Gipsies By R. E. Davies. Hie-ho, hie-dee-ho, Un my gipsy rounds I go, Caravanmng knows no sorrow: A new health for each new morrow. '"I"^ HE traveller in the rural districts of Wales may often come across a caravan of gipsies though of late years the authorities have been carrying on a crusade against these nomads squatting on any neglected corner of land, and the Romany race are constantly being moved from their ancient camping grounds. In days gone by, when large stretches of unenclosed land, wild heaths and uncultivated moorlands and marshes were more plentiful than at present, there was naturally a far wider scope for the operations of such gentry, who, as now, were more often interested in poaching, begging and pilfering than in their supposed trades of horse- dealing and tinkering. Indeed, a century ago, determined action was frequently taken against the tribes who made themselves a nuisance to the original inhabitants of the surrounding country, and it is recorded that the magistrates for the Hundred and Borough of Oswestry in January, 1826, issued an order that in consequence of a great number of gipsies and other disorderly persons residing in the open air in different parts of the Hundred and Borough the utmost exertions should be made in putting into operation the Act passed in the fourth year of the reign of George IV. for the punishment of idle and disorderly persons and rogues and vagabonds, and called upon the High, Special and Petty Constables to be vigilant in the execution of their duty in this respect, and proceed to apprehend all persons of this description without further instructions from the Magistrates." Considering the large number of gipsies who wander about all parts of the country, it is rather surprising that they do not cause more trouble. That crime of one sort or another, mostly of the petty description, is not infrequently traced to their camps does not alter the fact that, in view of their many opportunities for ill-doing, the gip- sies, taking them as a whole, are pretty well behaved. All sorts of these wanderers are to be met with, some of them quite well-to-do and often industrious, others poor and lazy, others again no better than the common tramps. Also, strange to say, there are gipsies of quite culti- vated manners, with vans that are always kept smart and scrupulously clean, and who bring up their children in quite a creditable manner. As world wanderers, whose origin is wrapped in mystery, the gipsies burst upon Europe, out of the unknown, five hundred years ago. Speak- ing an uncouth and secret language and practis- ing strange arts, of which magic was reputed to be the chief, they swept through country after country, but to the present day they are a race apart. The fierce beauty of their women-who bloom early with Eastern intensity-and the unforgettable gipsy glance mark their alien blood among all peoples. The gipsies of North Wales are called Teulu Abram Wd "-i.e., the family of Abraham Wood­-from an eponymous ancestor, who, with the Ingrams, entered the Principality about the middle of the seventeenth century. These gipsies all speak three languages widely differing in structure and vocabulary as Romani, Welsh and English, and converse in the latter much better than the average Welshman. As a well-known example and type of the Welsh Romany, the family of the Roberts', the famous harpists, may be instanced. Both the families of Roberts and Wood are the direct descendants of the above-named Abraham Wood, and they speak their native language with a purity perhaps unequalled except by the Tehingiane of Turkey. Another interest- ing fact about the Welsh Romany is that, just as in Hungary and Russia, this gifted race have become the best interpreters of the national music of their adopted country. Both on the old triple harp and its modern rival, the pedal harp, they seem to excel by infusing into Celtic music some- thing of the spirit of magic which is commonly attributed to their race. In one sense, gipsies may be considered to belong to the class of national communities but their remarkable history no less than their out- standing peculiarities set them apart from the rest. There is invariably a strange fascination about the lives and doings of these mysterious people; their peculiar language-quite a differ- ent thing from the thieves Latin of the crim- inal classes-the practical absence of any dog- matic religion their usual types of trade and industry, for on the whole the gipsy of to-day is a tinker just as often as he was of old their repute in white witchcraft are still characteristics of the race and altogether a popular reputation, not always deserved, for lawlessness, especially as regards other people's poultry yards. The gipsy's code of law is peculiar; it enjoins chastity and the payment of debts. This last provision would seem to be ironical when their thieving propensities are remembered, but the debts which a Romany is bound to pay are only those owing to men of his own race. Most of them get their living by selling baskets, cans and such like wares, while not a few are showmen, and many of the fairs which travel the country on recognised circuits are in the hands of gipsy- folk for although the gipsy is a nomad, he is no aimless wanderer. Those of us who live in houses often pity the children of the heath in cold weather. But gip- sies say that they seldom feel chillv in their tents and that they are little troubled with coughs and rheumatism. According to the testimony of